Word of Mouth marketing (WOM) is a bit like the Superman of campaigns. Nothing can stop it. That’s because the company the campaign focuses on has little or nothing to do with the effort. It’s all customer driven. People recommending products they love straight from the heart — with no interference from the marketing folks — can easily make a product go viral.

To me, WOM really comes home when I think of Southwest Airlines, the brainchild a few decades ago of Herb Kelleher and Rolin King. I tell people that I fly American and Southwest almost exclusively, but if Southwest Airlines flew to all my travel destinations, they’d corral all of my business, despite the slightly longer drive to MDW. Why? It’s so simple … flying Southwest I mean.

Let’s see, as a reward for reaching Platinum status on AA, my miles allow me to depart LAX for the trip back east to ORD at either 0130, or 0600. Imagine the deal if they DIDN’T like me.

On SWA’s Rapids Rewards page, it was clear pretty quickly that my mileage bank account would cover flying all of us to California and part of the way south once we left Berkeley … and at hours normal people want to fly … and non-stop no less. If there’s a seat on a Southwest flight, I can have it. What the heck … a few more clicks and I bought the remaining tickets on SWA too. How could I not?

Truly, it’s not the drink coupons, or the birthday card they send me though that keep me loyal. The Southwest Airlines people are just nice folks. In fact, I can only remember one crabby Southwest employee in all the years I’ve flown them. And of course, they run a pretty cool blog, Nuts About Southwest, that you really ought to be following.

What customers want is a consistent product; a good travel experience at a fair price and employees who seem to realize that their airline’s success is interwoven with that of their customers. Not many airlines know — or even seem to care about that anymore.

Now AA.COM … about those loyalty miles I’ve been chasing you for over the last month about …

6 Responses to “Why Southwest Grabs My Business, Again and Again”

jetBlue is by far a superior product over Southwest. They do care about their customers. And they provide a much better flying experience and service than Southwest. jetBlue is my de facto airline. Even pilots working for other airlines agree that jetBlue has a superior product. I avoid the legacy airlines (Delta, USAir, United-Continental, AA) like the Ebola virus.

When they first started, they were an innovator, setting a new paradigm that this industry desperately needed. Other airlines have since imitated and failed. I mean…it’s not even a competition. And to throw in a IMHO bone, Airbus vs. Boring. I’m mean…c’mon. ;-)